Chapter Three: Elly’s Music Box

Monster Summoning Manual.

Status: Activated

Monsters Summoned: 1

Item Inventory: 1

Achievements Unlocked: [First Summoning]

Items Obtained: [Ellie’s Music Box]

Note: The music box is Ellie’s beloved toy, difficult to damage. When the button is turned and music plays, Ellie will dance gracefully to the tune. Each time Ellie is summoned, a life must be offered as reward; otherwise, she will feed on her summoner.

[This is a monster with a promising overall evaluation and great potential for growth. Cultivation is recommended.]

“You have to pay a life every time you summon her? Otherwise, she’ll devour her master?” Fan Li’s lips twitched as he gazed at the music box placed at his bedside, overwhelmed by a surge of complicated emotions.

Shortly after the monster named Ellie appeared, her figure began to blur until she disappeared completely. In her place, where she had vanished, a music box had materialized.

Only now did Fan Li see the face of the doll atop the music box. It was dressed in a lovely princess gown like Ellie’s, but its cheeks were split by a gaping maw ringed with sharp teeth.

From information supplied directly to his mind, Fan Li understood that this music box was the conduit for summoning Ellie. Like any ordinary music box, all it required was a turn of the button to set the doll leaping. Ellie would then appear before him. However, the price for the summoning was a life offered as payment!

Beside the music box lay a black book, its cover covered with countless mottled dots—exactly like the Monster Summoning Manual Fan Li had seen in his mind.

He had never expected the book to become tangible, now sitting right before him!

Touching the book was an unsettling experience. Rather than feeling like an inanimate object, it resembled the skin of some living creature—warm to the touch, with subtle undulations that felt real and alive.

Those undulations were eerily similar to the rise and fall of a human chest as it breathed.

Fan Li opened the book. The first page displayed a photograph of the music box, and in the lower left corner, the silhouette of a little girl standing with her back turned. To an ordinary person, curiosity might be piqued by the adorable dress, perhaps assuming the girl’s face to be equally charming. Only Fan Li knew what terror that face could inspire.

From behind, the monster looked like a seven- or eight-year-old girl. Her face, however, could frighten even the devils of hell.

Fan Li had no doubt how sharp her teeth were—spiraling, clustered together like a ceaselessly turning meat grinder. If she bit into an adult, they would last only moments before being ground into pulp.

He was slowly adapting to all of this, but then again, what choice did he have? Even with the windows tightly shut, the faint stench of blood crept in. Besides the chaos outside, in the hallway came occasional inhuman howls. Not long ago, something had fiercely battered his front door. Fan Li understood—the body that had collapsed outside his apartment had completed its transformation and joined the ranks of the undead.

Who could have imagined that the once stern yet kind teacher would, after death, become a grotesque, snarling zombie? Perhaps drawn by the scent of life within the room, it had battered the door again and again, like cracking open a chestnut to devour the flesh inside.

But zombies are not patient creatures. When it found the door unyielding, it wandered off, destination unknown.

Survival is the most basic instinct of all living things.

Humans might choose death in extreme circumstances, but for Fan Li, things had not yet deteriorated to the point that suicide seemed an escape. Besides, unlike those mutated or cowering in corners, Fan Li possessed a strange advantage: the Monster Summoning Manual and the power to call forth a toothy little monster.

In this perilous, apocalyptic world, Fan Li held a trump card for survival.

Even so, he dared not recklessly summon Ellie just yet. He was the only living being in the apartment; summoning her would cost a life. If he could not pay, the consequences were unthinkable.

He still wondered whether the “life” required as payment meant a human, any living thing, or perhaps even a zombie would suffice? He had no way of knowing. Reason told him not to turn the music box’s button until he was certain.

Having settled his thoughts, Fan Li opened the refrigerator, took out a piece of plain bread, and moved cautiously to the window, gently pulling aside the curtain.

His resistance to fear allowed him to eat calmly even as he witnessed hell outside. Gnawing on the cold bread, he ignored its taste, his gaze fixed on the world beyond like a statue, immersed in silence.

Time did nothing to halt the zombies below. On the contrary, they gathered in droves like swarming ants, roaring and howling at the surrounding buildings.

The street below was nothing like before. Once bustling and prosperous, it was now bathed in blood. Countless cars were jammed together, blocking all passage.

No engines rumbled anymore. The city itself seemed to have stopped turning. Apart from the merciless undead, there was not a single living soul on the streets.

Fan Li watched the scene in silence. The moon had drifted westward, now stained crimson by the savage outbreak, transformed into a blood moon.

He did not finish the whole piece of bread. Uncertain how many days he would have to endure in these conditions, he rationed his food as much as possible.

By this point, television broadcasts had completely ceased. The rescue promised hours ago never materialized. Fan Li did not know whether impassable roads or unimaginable attacks had forced the rescue teams to abandon their mission.

No matter what, Fan Li believed he needed to stay in his room a while longer. Deep down, he still hoped for the arrival of rescuers.

In the meantime, he had to keep his door tightly shut, store more water, and divide every morsel of food with care.

Of course, before he could attend to all that, there was something far more important.

Standing by the window, gazing down at the grotesque, blood-smeared zombies below, Fan Li sighed deeply.

Before waiting for anyone’s rescue, he needed to remember one thing: to survive… to live, and live well.